Strength Training for Yogis: Farmer’s Carries for Functional Strength

As yogis, we cross-train to improve our yoga practice. When you incorporate farmer’s carries into your training, you’ll find inversions and overall body strength increase. Poses like crow and balancing in general will become more effortless.

We also train to create ease in our everyday life movements. A farmer’s carry is like carrying bags of groceries out to the car. The concept is exactly the same. Your new strength will make these tasks much easier.

When training the farmer’s carry, you will notice your grip strength is a limiting factor in how much weight you can carry. This is normal and something that will improve over time, especially if you train other movements, like kettlebell swings and pull ups.

Here are five points of performance for the farmer’s carry.

Start with your feet hip-distance apart, like you would set up for a deadlift.

Wrap your hand fully around the kettlebell or dumbbell, creating a cup with the palms.

As you begin to walk, keep the knees slightly bent and shuffle your feet, taking small steps.

Put the weight down as carefully as you picked it up.

Three Functional Farmer's Carry Workouts

How do we incorporate farmer’s carries into our weekly yoga routine? Below are three workouts to do at the gym. They require minimal equipment and 12-45 minutes of your time, depending on which one you choose.